FILE - At the Arctic Ring of Life at the Detroit Zoo. / ERIC SEALS/Detroit Free Press

Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

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The Great Hall at the Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, Mich.,Thursday, July 19, 2012. / SUSAN TUSA/Detroit Free Press

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LANSING — The state House overwhelmingly approved a package of bills Tuesday that will ensure special millage revenues go where the money is intended.

Nine cash-strapped Wayne County communities were trying to keep a portion of the millage money intended for the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Detroit Zoo to use for other purposes.

“We need fire protection. We need police protection. We want a nice zoo and a nice museum,” said state Rep. Doug Geiss, D-Taylor, one of the communities holding back some of the millage money. “The needs must always prevail.”

The package ensures that money isn’t diverted from its intended purpose.

“When you have something like a zoo or DIA tax, it’s a regional tax,” said state Rep. Eileen Kowall, R-White Lake, and a bill sponsor. “You violate that spirit of regionalism when you decide your needs are more important than the greater overall well being.

“The voters intended this money to go to the lions and bears and even the snakes; the Renoirs and the Degas,” she added. “Let’s hold up the voters’ intent.”

The bills, which now move to the state Senate, passed by votes of 104-4 and 105-4. Voting against were Wayne County Reps. Kurt Heise, R-Plymouth; Paul Clemente, D-Lincoln Park; Dian Slavens, D-Canton; and Geiss.